Apply for a Central Position within KI

Student representation at KI’s central level is super important to make sure that the voice of doctoral students is heard in KI’s highest decision-making bodies. These are bodies that shape KI’s vision, strategy, investments, recruitment, and work environment. Many of these positions require that you are proficient in Swedish as this is KI’s working language according to the law (for more information on the language requirements check the description for each position).  

The DSA nomination committee will review all applications and the annual general meeting will elect suitable candidates. If elected, your position starts January 2022 and you will hold it till the end of the year. 

Deadline to Apply: October 6

The application period to be evaluated by the DSA’s nomination committee has now closed. It is still possible to candidate for positions by attending our annual general meeting on October 16. More info with times and zoom links will be posted soon.

Central Positions Related to Doctoral Studies  

Faculty Board – Fakultetsnämnden 

The Faculty Board is the second-highest decision-making body at KI, chaired by the KI president, includes the KI vice-presidents, the deans, the faculty, the student representatives, and the university director. It is the main KI management decision body.  

As a doctoral student representative here, you can express the needs of the PhD students’ community for example to increase investments in specific central KI support activities or in teaching and courses, you can give inputs on how to develop the education and the research and influence the strategic decisions that would affect all KI. 

The decisions taken are related to all the academic and scientific issues, from internationalization to infrastructure and resource allocation. Swedish is the main language: documents and discussions will be in Swedish. 

You can read more about the position here: https://ki.se/en/about/the-faculty-board 

If you have any questions you can reach out to the current representative: Sebastian Ols

Committee for Doctoral Education – Kommittén för utbildning på forskarnivå (KFU) 

The committee for doctoral education (KFU) makes high-level decisions about doctoral education at KI: funding, course quality, admission and dissertation procedures, supervisor education, and the green light system. They set the guidelines that will then be implemented by other committees, which in turn report back to KFU. If you are interested in improving doctoral education in a fundamental and long-term way, this is the committee for you. All documents and partly discussions will be in Swedish, while you may reply in English. Hence, good Swedish reading skills and oral comprehension are required. KFU meets approximately once a month except for the summer break, with meetings lasting half a day. In preparation, materials will be sent to all committee members, which usually take a couple hours to read. Your time will be reimbursed and extends your overall PhD time. Three student representatives will be appointed to the committee.  

You can read more about the position here: https://staff.ki.se/committee-for-doctoral-education 

If you have any questions, you can reach out to the current representative: Valeria Messina, Amineh Ghaderi, Caroline Schagerholm   

Research Committee – Kommittén för forskning (FK) 

The committee for research decides and discusses topics related to the preparation, quality, and implementation of research and supports the highest decision board at KI (The Faculty board). Interested in influencing the research happening at KI? Join the research committee.  

Swedish is the main language: documents and discussions will be in Swedish. Two student representatives will be appointed to the committee.  

You can read more about the position here:  https://staff.ki.se/committee-for-research 

If you have any questions, you can reach out to the current representatives: Elnaz Sepehri,  Benedek Bozoky  

Dissertation Committee (Solna/ Flemingsberg) 

The dissertation committee reviews and decides upon doctoral and licentiate defense applications so they follow the KI rules and of the highest possible quality. It meets every 2 weeks on both Solna and Flemingsberg campuses.  

As PhD student representative you can first have a close look at how the dissertation application works and what are the bases that bring to approve, defer, or reject it. Moreover, you can assure that the rules are applied equally to all students and bring out modifications of the rules that the committee could discuss and ask the Doctoral Education Committee to consider. Although the documentation will be in English, the discussions and the meetings are in Swedish. Two student representatives are appointed for this position, one from each campus.  

You can read more about the position here: https://staff.ki.se/deadlines-and-important-dates-the-dissertation-committee 

If you have any questions, you can reach out to the current representatives: Suchita Desai 

Course and Program Committee – Kurs- och programkommittén (KPK) 

This committee decides on courses that are given at PhD level at KI, their budget, and the evaluation of the different doctoral programs. It suggests which courses are compulsory in the PhD syllabus and makes strategic decisions on which kind of doctoral courses and programs are needed at KI. Do you want to influence the courses catalog that is available to us? Then this is the committee for you!  

The meetings and most of the documentation are in English, while some course syllabi are in Swedish. The committee meets 2-3 times per semester for half a day and is chaired by the deputy vice-president of doctoral education. You will need to read, comment, and approve all the doctoral course syllabi throughout the year before the committee meeting. Once per semester, some of the teachers’ course evaluations will be discussed during the meeting. Two student representatives are appointed for this position. 

You can read more about the position here: https://staff.ki.se/the-course-and-programme-committee  

If you have any questions, you can reach out to the current representatives: Dominyka Batkovskte, Amineh Ghaderi

The steering group for KID funding 

This steering group proposes decisions on KID-funding announcements and grading criteria as well as evaluates and follows-up on previous KID-funding rounds. Documentation will be in Swedish, but discussions are held in English.  

You can read more about the position here: https://staff.ki.se/steering-group-for-kid-funding 

If you have any questions you can reach out to the current representative: Lea Van Husen

Research internship (“Forskar-AT”) steering group 

The steering group is responsible for the Forskar-AT positions at Karolinska. Forskar-AT is a mixed clinical-research position – including AT at one of the big Stockholm hospitals and 1 year of paid research as a PhD-student or Postdoc at KI. The steering group meets at least once per semester and discusses topics such strategic issues, experiences from previous call and plan the current and the next Research Internship. It is composed of representatives of KI and Stockholm Region.  

As a doctoral student representative, you can influence some decisions taken by the steering group, protect the interest of students and share the needs and the inputs received from the student community. Swedish is the main language: documents and discussions will be in Swedish. A big plus if the rep is a current or former Forskar-AT stipend or has the experience of combining clinical work with research, and is familiar with the Swedish system for clinical and scientific career paths.  

You can read more about the position here: https://staff.ki.se/research-internship-forskar-at-steering-group  

If you have any questions, you can reach out to the current representative: Kasra Nikouei

Other Central Positions within KI 

Board of KI – Konsistoriet 

The board of KI is the highest decision-making body of KI. It’s composed of members appointed directly by the Swedish Government, the KI president, the university director, and representatives of teachers, employees, and students. The board discusses issues of different aspects, from KI’s organization to important recommendations for all university sectors. Swedish is the main language: documents and discussions will be in Swedish. 

You can read more about the position here: https://ki.se/en/about/board-of-karolinska-institutet  

Network Medicine Alliance (previously American-European-Network Medicine) 

The Network Medicine Alliance (NMA) is an initiative coordinated by Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) |Harvard Medical School. NMA’s long-term goals are to build strong interactions between national and NMA partners excellent in theory and methods development and to catalyze competence building in network medicine. A doctoral representative in the KI steering group helps running the collaboration work internally at KI and helps to realize NMA’s philosophy. Meetings and discussions can be held in English.  

You can read more about the position here: https://ki.se/en/collaboration/the-network-medicine-alliance 

If you have any questions, you can reach out to the current representative: [email protected] 

Recruitment Committee 

The recruitment committee is responsible to hire new lecturers and professors and decide upon the career promotion of faculty members. The committee meets once a month. As a student representative, you can benefit from having a close look on the criteria on how faculty members are hired and promoted, and you can ensure that all applications are treated equally and according to the rules. Swedish is the main language; some documents will be in English. 

You can read more about the position here: https://staff.ki.se/recruitment-committee  

If you have any questions, you can reach out to the current representatives: Yangjun Liu ; Weiyingqi Cui

Docent Committee 

The docent committee is responsible to review the docentship applications and decides who to assign the title of docent to. If you are interested in teaching and shaping the future education at KI, apply for this position. It also gives you a unique opportunity to familiarize yourself with the requirements to become a docent if you consider continuing in academia after your PhD. Discussions are held in Swedish; while you may reply in English, the documents are partly in Swedish and partly in English.   

You can read more about the position here: https://staff.ki.se/the-docent-committee 

If you have any questions, you can reach out to the current representative: Yangjun Liu

Internationalisation Advisory Council 

A priority issue for the Internationalisation Advisory Council is the work on Karolinska Institutet’s strategic development regarding internationalisation and related action plans. As a student representative you contribute to the discussion and give input on the different ongoing and future internationalisation projects from a student point of view. Documentation will be in Swedish, but the discussions are held in English.  

You can read more about the position here: https://staff.ki.se/internationalisation-advisory-council  

If you have any questions, you can reach out to the current representative: Dina Dabaghie

KI/SLL Research Council – KI/SLL forskningsråd (FR)  

The KI/SLL Research council is the body under the collaborative organization between the Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm Region responsible to discuss actions to implement the research collaborations between the two institutions.  

As student representative you can give important inputs from the students community on how to improve or change such collaboration and you can benefit in networking with people from Stockholm Region and KI central bodies. Swedish is the main language: documents and discussions will be in Swedish.  

You can read more about the position here: https://medarbetare.ki.se/samverkansorganisation-karolinska-institutet-region-stockholm